Monday, July 17, 2017

Staunton, July 17 – Russia does not
have enough operational submarines to carry out the tasks Moscow has set the
navy and does not have enough money to modernize existing boats, especially the
aging ones Russia inherited from the Soviet Union, or to build new ones to fill
the gap, according to military analyst Ilya Kramnik.

In an extraordinarily detailed
article whose URL tells the story – there is “not enough money” it says – the military
expert describes the ways in which Moscow is being forced to cut back its modernization
and building programs, leavingthe country
for the next decade or more, without the submarines it needs (lenta.ru/articles/2017/07/15/notenoughmoney/).

At
present, there are “formally” 26 multi-purpose submarines in the Russian navy,
but “half of them” are either being refitted or scheduled to be refitted. And
those on service, Kramnik says specialists have told him, only about half are
fully capable of performing in the absence of upgrading.

The Russian navy had ambitious plans
to address this problem, he continues, but “reductions in spending on the navy
obviously have forced it to reduce its appetite for modernization and, where
modernization is occurring, to reduce its extent because it has been found that
the costs of refitting now nearly equal the costs of building new ships.

The number of Russian submarines in
service now is rated by officials as “absolutely insufficient.”Moscow needs at least “twice more” than it
has, but budgetary constraints are making the achievement of that goal almost
impossible, despite public declarations that more is being done.

What makes Kramnik’s
article important are the specific details he provides about the situation in
various classes of Russian submarines and in various drydock facilities.The appearance of such information suggests
that someone in the Navy is trying to frighten civilian political leaders into
coming up for more money despite budgetary stringencies.